The Running Gag
by oleanderedits
Summary: "If I don't make it back, tell Daryl I love him."
1. The First Time

The first time Jesus said it, he did so dramatically and with Daryl standing right there.

"If I don't make it back," Jesus sighed, hand going to his heart as his body tilted to the side while his other arm reached out as if to grasp feebly at Daryl, who stood a good fifteen feet from him and the car, "Tell Daryl I love him."

The tension the group had been feeling broke in that instant, a cascade of laughter from everyone except Daryl. But even he was fighting a snort of amusement and had to settle on a heavy eye-roll and muttered, "Shut up, prick." that held no malice.

Jesus slid himself into the passenger side of the car with a shit-eating grin as Michonne said her own private goodbye to Rick before she, too, got in the car.


	2. The Second Time

The second time he said it, he was bringing in the trade goods from Hilltop and a kickball went bouncing past the truck and into the street beyond the gate. A couple kids who had been chasing it slowed down and stopped before crossing the line, grumbling to themselves.

Jesus could have easily kept the truck going, but he pulled to a stop and climbed out. He walked around the side and made a show of pulling on his gloves and bandanna, like it was the most important undertaking he'd ever been involved in.

"If I don't make it back," he said to the two, meeting their eyes and making it sound like a promise they had to keep whether they agreed to it or not, "Tell Daryl I love him."

The confused looks broke away into laughter as Jesus turned and darted out the gate, rolling to crouch next to the tire of one of the cars. He rolled again, across the street, into the shadow of another car, looking wildly around to make sure the coast was clear before he rushed towards the ball and claimed it as his prize.

More laughter joined the kids as Rosita realized what Jesus was doing from the watch post and he made his way back, taking an even more complicated route that involved the roofs of three cars and hanging from the gate before climbing over the side of the wall and coming down to the ground half-way between the watch-post and the Name Wall.


	3. The Third Time

The third time he said it, Daryl walked away from him.

"If I don't make it," Jesus said, arms crossed and standing from where he'd been leaning against the kitchen wall, getting ready to head to the pantry to request the ingredients for a somewhat larger supper than Aaron had originally planned, "Tell Daryl I love him."

Aaron snickered into his hand and Eric nearly spit out the water he'd been drinking. Daryl, who had just come in from Aaron's garage, gave Jesus a glare that could peel paint. He turned right around and walked back into the garage, slamming the door behind him.

Aaron and Eric winced and gave Jesus apologetic looks, but Jesus just shrugged and went on his way.


	4. The Eighth Time

The Eighth Time he said it, Daryl looked at him funny.

"If I don't make it back," Jesus started in the usual way, checking the knives at his waist and the gun at the small of his back, tone far from joking this time, feeling more like something repeated out of habit. He lifted his head to meet Daryl's eyes, soft smile just barely curling his lips, "Tell Daryl I love him."

Daryl hugged his hands a little tighter into the armholes of his vest and shifted his weight, meeting Jesus' eyes. He'd started to get used to the whole stupid thing, even threatened to punch the asshole a couple times over it. But this time, he didn't look angry. Just... confused. Not sure what was going on in Paul's mind.

The others didn't seem to notice the exchange, giving a couple snorts of amusement before falling in line and heading out, leaving Daryl to watch them disappear in the distance, a frown on his face as his eyes followed Jesus more than they followed anyone else.


	5. The Twenty-Seventh Time

The twenty-seventh time he says it, it's become expected.

"If I don't make it back," Jesus started, jogging for the gate to join the three already on their way for patrol, he is joined in with a chorus of twelve other voices and a lot of grins: " _Tell Daryl you love him._ "

Glenn looked over his shoulder at Daryl, who was scowling and heading the other direction. He put a hand to his mouth and called out, "Hey, Daryl! If Jesus doesn't make it back, he says to tell you he loves you."

His reward was Daryl's shoulders hunching even higher and his feet stomping a little harder. Despite that, Glenn didn't feel at all bad about it.


	6. The Fifty-First Time

The fifty-first time he said it, he never got to finish it.

Jesus was heading back to Hilltop and Daryl back to Alexandria. The joint scouting trip had been a bust and they'd lost the car they'd taken out, so they had to split up earlier than expected. They could make it back to their respective homes before sunset on foot, but only if they started within the next hour or so.

Daryl finished splitting the supplies they had on them so each had some water and something to snack on and held one of the bags out to Jesus. Jesus reached out for it, grinning at him, "You know, if I don't make it back..."

"Shut the fuck up," Daryl snapped out in exasperation and shoved the other man's shoulder. But he was laughing this time. Jesus rocked back and then started to slowly walk away. Still backwards so he could watch Daryl try to fight his grin and unable to do so as he, too, started off in the opposite direction. Daryl put his back to Jesus, but he kept turning around to look back.

The two kept it up until the other was out of sight.

When they got back to their homes, the grins were still there. For Jesus it wasn't unheard of. But for Daryl, he couldn't explain it without it coming off sappy and he had to keep telling people to leave him alone with that grin he couldn't erase plastered to his face.


	7. The Ninety-Eighth Time

The ninety-eighth time he said it, Michonne and Glenn were surprised to realize he meant it.

They'd learned a long time ago that not everything could or would go their way. Sometimes they had to risk a lot more than they wanted to. And sometimes that risk had to be taken by a single person.

The three of them had argued among themselves which of them should do it and Jesus had ended up 'winning' by the virtue of his martial arts experience. Michonne and Glenn were both perfectly good at being sneaky in a building, and could probably get in and out without being seen. But of the three, it was Jesus that could knock a man out soundlessly and with little to no bloodshed.

He stripped off his trench coat and handed it to Glenn, "Hey, uh... if I don't make it back..." Jesus started and this time it wasn't with the usual flippancy or light tone they'd come to expect of him. It was with a grave seriousness, actual fear behind his eyes as he looked up to meet theirs. A gulp that set his adam's apple bobbing before he pulled his bandanna up to cover the bottom half of his face, "Tell Daryl I love him."

He was gone, disappearing into the shadows before either of them could say a thing. Glenn looked to Michonne and Michonne to Glenn and the two shared a sudden understanding that at some point Jesus's running gag had ceased to be a joke.


	8. The Three Hundredth Time

The three hundredth time he said it, Daryl told him to say it again.

"If I don't come back," Jesus murmured into Daryl's mouth, his lips parting between languid kisses while he got backed toward the front door, "Tell Daryl I love him."

Daryl gave a long 'mmm', hands lazily rubbing along the lines of Jesus' waist and down his ass to his thighs before coming back up again, "you should tell him yourself, you little shit. When you get back."

Jesus grinned and pressed another kiss to that dirty-talking mouth he kept wanting to shut up at the same time he never wanted to stay quiet, "Yeah? You think I'm coming back?"

Daryl reached behind him to grab the doorknob and slowly twist it open, "Damn right you are." He gave another, long, slow kiss, before pushing the door open and giving Jesus a shove to get him outside. The other man stumbled backwards, laughing as he got his feet under him and took the steps two at a time. Daryl threw him a mock scowl and yelled after him, "And don't forget the whiskey this time!"


	9. The Thousandth Time

The thousandth time he said it, he really thought he was going to die.

Daryl wasn't back yet from the two week supply run into the ruins of DC. He didn't know that just after he'd left, the Hilltop had been hit hard by a new group of wannabe conquers who would rather raze their foes to the ground than negotiate. They were worse than the Saviors had been, in a way. All they cared about was who would bow and who wouldn't. And if someone wouldn't, then that someone had to die.

Jesus and Michonne and Rick and a few others were going to take out the leadership under the cover of darkness and there was a very real possibility none of them would make it out. They weren't as young as they used to be, even if they were just as deadly.

Paul drew Carl aside before Rick and Michonne could make their own goodbyes to their son. "I know I say this every time," he began, hands clenching and brows drawn tight, "But if I don't make it back, tell Daryl I love him?"

It came out as a question and Carl nodded, "Yeah. I will. Good luck."

"Thanks."


	10. The Last Time

The last time he said it, Daryl couldn't hear him.

Judith stood in front of the grave marker, dressed in black. She was fifty-three or thereabouts, and having to bury yet another person in her life that she hadn't expected to go they way they did. The funeral was done with already. Had just ended. But she had a promise to keep before she could join the others in mourning. Which was why she was standing alone in front of the grave marker.

"He passed last night," she began, fighting to hold back tears. "He asked me to tell you a few things, like he's been doing every night for the past three months. He wanted to be able to tell you himself, but he couldn't get out of bed. That's one of the things he wanted me to tell you. That he's sorry he couldn't come see you. We uh... we buried him this morning. Just about an hour ago. Wasn't room to put him beside you, but he got a spot in that nice tree-lined cemetery we started in the eighth expansion. He's next to Uncle Eugene and this big old weeping willow."

She brushed at her cheeks and snorted hard as she sucked in another breath, bent down to lay the small bundle of flowers in front of the broken crossbow bolted to the marker. It'd been sitting there for a good fifteen years and nothing and no one could repair it now. "We put your vest over his marker. He wore it every day from the moment you were put in the ground. Figured you wouldn't mind having your wings around him when he came to join you... Anyway..."

Another deep breath and an arm pulled across her nose, "he asked me to tell you he loves you. That was the most important part. That if he didn't make it back, you had to know he loves you. Well, he didn't make it back. But he loves you. He never stopped."


End file.
